(a) No railroad or other public utility shall abandon all or
any portion of its service to the public or the operation of any of
its lines which would affect the service it is rendering the public
unless and until there shall first have been filed with the public
service commission of this state an application for a permit to
abandon service and obtained from the commission an order stating
that the present and future public convenience and necessity
permits such abandonment.

(b) The consumer advocate's office shall be notified of all
notices to abandon rail service. Within five (5) days of the
receipt of such notice the consumer advocate shall notify the West
Virginia public port authority of such proposed abandonment. The
public port authority shall advise the consumer advocate as to
whether such abandonment is in the public interest or if such rail
line or service is an integral part of the intermodal
transportation system within West Virginia. If the public port
authority deems such abandonment to be not in the public interest,
then the consumer advocate shall intervene to block such
abandonment before all appropriate state and federal agencies or
courts.

(c) The public service commissioner, to the extent permitted
by federal law, shall promulgate rules and regulations to govern
the abandonment of rail lines and rail service, including, but not
limited to, the providing of a hearing for the presentation of
evidence in cases where the consumer advocate seeks intervention pursuant to subsection (b).

(d) In the event the commission determines that an application
to abandon gas service or any part thereof is in the public
interest and required by the present and future public convenience
and necessity, it shall include in its order, as a condition of
releasing any such utility from its public service obligation to
provide gas service, a provision requiring the utility, prior to
discontinuing service, to pay the cost reasonably necessary to
convert each customer to an alternate fuel source.